Conventional container closures, particularly screw type caps for bottles or jars, either include a plurality of inwardly extending fingers adapted to engage a plurality of spaced lugs formed on the mouth of the jar, or a threaded portion on the cap engaging a cooperating threaded portion on the mouth of the jar. The first-mentioned type of cap is similar to a bayonet joint wherein a partial turn of the cap will either tighten the cap or loosen it, while the second-mentioned type of cap is a true threaded connection wherein the cap has to be rotated at least 360.degree. in either one direction or the other depending upon whether the cap is being tightened or released from the jar.
Most of the jar caps marketed heretofore have been circular to conform to the circular neck of the jar; however, in today's market where the style of the jar and its associated closure have become distinctive to the advertising and commercial exploitation of the product contained within the jar, many jars are being manufactured to have a polygonal cross-section with a closure having a similar polygonal cross-section. In these types of jars and closures, the closure includes a circular cap having the bayonet or continuous threads noted above, and an attached housing having a polygonal, cross-section similar to the jar, the housing also having a relatively wide skirt portion confirming to the side walls of the jar.
While these "styled" jars and associated closures have been satisfactory for their intended purpose, they have been characterized as relatively expensive due to the fabrication of the closure which required a cap connected to a separate housing.
After considerable research and experimentation, the jar closure of the present invention has been devised which includes the cap and housing as a single unit which heretofore required separately attached components, viz., the cap and the housing.
The closure of the present invention comprises, essentially, a cap having a cross-section conforming to the cross-section of the jar to which the cap is attached, a relatively wide skirt portion conforming to, or providing an extension to the side walls of the jar, and a continuous, inwardly rolled bead formed on the lower edge of the skirt portion to not only reinforce the skirt portion of the cap but also to provide a continuous thread or finger engageable with the threads or lugs on the mouth of the jar.